PATTERNS OF DECEPTION IN INTERSEXUAL AND INTRASEXUAL MATING STRATEGIES

The act frequency approach (Buss 1988) was used to develop a taxonomy of deceptive mating acts and tactics and to investigate hypothesized sex differences in the use of these acts and tactics. The results indicate that males show differences in the types of deceptive acts and tactics used in intersexual versus intrasexual contexts. Intrasexually, males more frequently engage in deceptive acts and tactics related to the exaggeration of superiority and exaggeration of sexual promiscuity, intensity, and popularity. More frequent deceptive intersexual acts and tactics for males include feigned commitment, feigned sincerity, and feigned resource acquisition ability. Females more frequently engage in deceptive acts and tactics related to appearance alteration in both intersexual and intrasexual contexts. It was also found that males use deceptive intrasexual acts and tactics more frequently than females. These findings suggest that the dimensions of deception characteristic of male reproductive strategies are congruent with female mate selection criteria and the dimensions of deception characteristic of female reproductive strategies are congruent with male mate selection criteria. Results are interpreted in terms of current evolutionary psychological approaches to the understanding of sex differences in human mating strategies and the role of deception in interpersonal interaction.